


Everything is Permitted

by orphan_account



Series: Assassin's Creed AU [1]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassin's Creed Fusion, Assassins, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Darkfic, Killing, Revelations, Suicide, Templars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:20:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ten years later, Deniss has become a skilled assassin, highly respected by his peers. He’s charged with a mission of infiltrating an underground chapel and assassinate a Templar leader. An Assassin’s Creed AU.
Relationships: Stéphane Lambiel & Deniss Vasiljevs
Series: Assassin's Creed AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895299
Kudos: 3





	Everything is Permitted

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The setting belongs to Ubisoft. I’ve only played AC2, and there might well be tons of bugs in the storyline. This is completely fictional and I own nothing.  
> This might be the darkest AU I’ve ever written. I've not played the game, but I've read that the Brotherhood became somewhat ruthless later in the series.  
> Please read the tags and read at your own discretion. Again unbeta'd. I'm trying to write in a new language style, but I probably failed miserably.  
> Thanks to [romulua](https://archiveofourown.org/users/romulua) for the idea.

Deniss was standing near the ledge, watching the only person downstairs in front of the altar. His robe had been soaked in blood, and he had lost count how many Templar guards he had killed with a single flick of his hidden blade or his throwing knife. The man downstairs is the last Templar in the whole chapel, his actual target.

The blood-soaked robe felt heavy, but Deniss was more than used to this type of situation. He had been an assassin for over fifteen years, and to be honest, he had never been that good at ‘infiltrating’. He wasn’t that good at climbing the rooftops silently and looking for places to hide – but it’s alright. An assassin doesn’t need to be good at everything. His excellent assassination skills more or less made up for this shortcoming, which would be fatal for other assassins. If he is seen, he could easily kill the person before he could make any sound. Also, if there’s nobody alive to see him, he would not need to worry about being discovered.

After all, everything is permitted.

But there was one more reason that Deniss hated silent infiltration, which he never told anybody: his mentor – or rather, former mentor, is excellent at it.

His mentor never really liked killing. Most of the time, if he needs to assassinate someone, he could make it back with only that one person killed. He’ll climb into the building, locate the target and end him or her with an amazing precision. Afterwards, he’d use every possible way to escape, and only to escape. A leap of faith, jumping into the water and swimming under water, run into a street corner and blend in with the crowd. Not killing all guards and walking out.

An assassin who doesn’t like to kill. Ironic.

Deniss checked his weapons one last time. His hidden blade, his main weapon. His sword. If his assassination attempt is unsuccessful and it becomes a brawl, he prefers a sword in open battles. His smoke bomb and his throwing knives. In the worst situation, if he couldn’t win the open battle, he could always throw a bomb, run away and throw a couple of knives from a distance to end his enemy.

Normally he wouldn’t have so many back-up plans. But he had been told that his target is an very skilled ex-assassin, and it’s likely that Deniss’s hidden blade might not end him in one go.

_“He is – I mean, used to be – a great assassin, a master of the art of assassination. He, eh, used to be very vigilant and he knows how to fight. We think…Only you can do it.”_

_“Used to be?” Deniss frowned when he was briefed, “A Templar leader, who used to be an assassin? A traitor? Okay,” He flicked the hidden blade and retracted it back swiftly, “I’m going.”_

He doesn’t like Templars, but he hated traitors. Those are the people who had betrayed their brother’s trust, who had simply thrown away their creed. He had even thought about not saying ‘Requiescat in pace’ to the traitors that he killed, but he still says it every time. Although he started to hate certain things that his former mentor taught him after he defected to the Templars, this prayer is something that he chose to keep.

Deniss had been standing near the ledge for some time. The Templar leader was still in front of the altar, with his head bowed in a prayer. He doesn’t seem to be that vigilant, Deniss thought.

He looked around and found a way down. He can silently walk to the man, grab him from behind while slice his neck open. Just as his feet touched the ground, he suddenly realized that he could have performed an air attack from the ledge.

It’s too dark down here, he tried to justify his choice to himself. It’s not really possible to make sure he would be able to do it precisely. If he had jumped down and landed at the wrong place, he would have to use his sword.

He kept a stable pace, while his blood-soaked robe left a dark red trace on the gray stone floor. Three more steps. Deniss slipped his finger into the trigger ring on his hidden blade. Two more steps. He lifted his other arm, ready for a grab. One more step.

The Templar leader stood up and turned around.

Deniss hissed, immediately pulled on the trigger on his hidden blade. He could still do it before the Templar fights back.

“You’re here.”

Deniss froze. It’s dark down in the chapel and he couldn’t really see the man’s face clearly when he first turned back. But that voice. He would never forget that voice. The soft and gentle voice.

The Templar leader, the target of his mission, the traitor whom he’s determined to kill. But he’s also his mentor, the man who taught him everything, the famed former assassin. Stephane Lambiel.

Deniss had executed many traitors, and he never hesitated. Everyone in the Brotherhood knows that the reason for him to do this is the defect of his own former mentor. But now, in the underground chapel, with every single Templar guard killed, Deniss started to hesitate.

His left arm is out, the sharp blade just an inch away from the Templar’s throat; but now the tip of the blade is trembling.

I have to kill him. Deniss desperately told himself, if I don’t do it, it’s essentially a betrayal to the Assassin Order. But at the same time, he knew he probably couldn’t do it. An assassin’s hidden blade should always be precise and fast. It shouldn’t be trembling mid-air.

“I thought your skills are as good as people told me when you finished the guards silently,” the man said softly, “But I don’t remember teaching you to stare at your target face-to-face. What have they told you after I left?”

Deniss couldn’t say anything. He only heard a sound of some metallic thing colliding with the ground. He subconsciously looked down and realized it’s a Templar’s sword.

“But still, not too bad.” Stephane commented, “It’s the last step. Don’t fail your mission.”

Deniss knew his arm is getting lower and lower. The tip of the blade is no longer at his target’s throat level.

“Deniss.” Stephane said his name, and Deniss realized he didn’t even know he had been craving this for the past ten years. His mentor gently calling him, at the dawn on the training ground, between the bookshelves in the library, in front of the stoves in the kitchen. He thought that he had destroyed all the good memories about Stephane, but in fact, memories cannot be destroyed. It could only be hidden in the deepest of one’s mind, and it could be called up anytime.

“You know, with how everything is going in both the Assassin’s and Templar’s Orders, only one of us can leave this chapel alive.”

Deniss bit his lip. What Stephane said is true. In these years, the enmity between two orders had gone all the way to the extreme. If he chose not to kill Stephane today, he would likely to be declared a traitor tomorrow.

“Deniss.” Stephane sighed and said his name again, before suddenly taking a step forward and throwing his arms around Deniss’s shoulder.

Deniss reflexively stepped back, but he had heard the sound of his hidden blade piercing flesh, a sound that he’s so familiar with. Very quickly, his hand is covered with blood.

The assassin stopped functioning for a good while. All he could feel is the warmth of blood, all he could hear is Stephane’s pained and labored breath, all he could see is the cross on the altar. He stumbled when he felt that all the other man’s weight was on him. He retracted the hidden blade with shaking fingers, and slowly sat down on the ground with his target in his arms.

It wasn’t one of Deniss’s assassination attempt. It’s not a quick and immediately fatal blow, like slicing open his enemy’s throat or pushing the blade into someone’s heart. But he knew any attempt to pressing down on the wound or to resuscitate his target would be in vain. He had lost too much blood.

“Why?” Deniss finally asked. He knew the man is still breathing, but he really wasn’t expecting an answer. He just needed to ask. He didn’t even know what he was asking. Why did you defect to the other side? You know I’m here, why didn’t you fight back? Why did you run into my blade?

“I…..tried to change.” Stephane answered him in a very low voice, “both brotherhood…and templar. It didn’t work.”

Deniss saw bright red blood flowing out from his former mentor’s mouth with every word he tried to speak. It didn’t answer his question. What do you want to change? Why do you want to change it? How do you want it to be?

But the other person is no longer able to answer any of his questions.

Deniss sat there for a while, thinking everything and nothing. And finally, he stood up, moved his numb legs for a bit, and dragged the body next to the stone wall near the altar. He gently placed the body into a peaceful resting position and sat down next to it, his back against the cold stone wall.

He thought about his last conversation with Stephane, just as he was about to depart for a mission. Stephane looked through his mission plan and frowned.

_“I…I mean, it’s a good plan, well-thought through, and I’m sure you can execute it well…but, is all these necessary? If you think about what could it mean to all the civilians of the city, no, not just the city…”_

_“But there’s always a price to pay!” Deniss said, not realizing his voice was a bit too loud, “We can’t – it’s impossible to reach the goal if we were to think about every single person!”_

_“Even if they’re innocent?”_

_“Even if they’re innocent.” Deniss took the plan back, “’Everything is permitted.’ That’s what you told me.” He didn’t want to continue this conversation. Stephane has always been thinking too much. He didn’t have too much time tonight, and he still needed to pack his bag and make sure he had all the supplies before the departure before dawn. He’ll have plenty time when he’s back, and he could discuss it with Stephane in more details if he wishes to._

_But he didn’t have such a chance after he came back from the mission. The first thing he heard when he stepped into the brotherhood hideout was that Stephane had defected to the Templars._

_He couldn’t believe it at first, and later, he started to get angry. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Stephane didn’t like killing. He’ll take a long time to infiltrate some place instead of just fighting his way in. For heaven’s sake, he’s an assassin, and assassins will do anything for their goals. With what the assassins usually do and how Stephane perceived things, he should have known that Stephane would leave the brotherhood some day._

Deniss lifted his eyes and saw a small opening on the ceiling of this underground chapel. There’s no candles or fires here, and the opening is the only source of light here. He stared at the opening for a while, and he suddenly understood everything. The frustration on the night ten years ago, the grief and anger in these years, and his unasked and unanswered questions.

“Everything is permitted…” He repeated, “everything is permitted.” He laughed loudly, listening to his own voice echoing in the quiet stone chamber. “Now I understand it. Am I ten years late? Or is it…just at the right time?”

Of course, defecting to the other side is included in “everything”. Stephane defected, but he did not betray the creed.

Deniss knew that he is in this dark chapel, both physically and mentally. He had been walking in the darkness for more than fifteen years, never questioned it. And now there is a small opening, allowing a stream of light of _veritas._

“I owe you a prayer.” Deniss said while trying to wipe Stephane’s face clean with his sleeve, but he almost forgot that his whole robe is soaked with blood. He sighed and tried to look for a piece of relatively clean cloth from Stephane’s clothes, tore it down and wiped most blood off.

“Requiescat in pace -” He said quietly, “Sorry, I know this…is definitely late.” Assassins will say this prayer for their targets before they breathe their last breath and close their eyes for them after that.

Deniss lied down next to the body, placed his right hand on the body’s left, laced their fingers together, turned his head slightly to look at Stephane’s pale face.

“- mon maître.” He finished this prayer with a French word, a title that Stephane had taught him many years ago when he was learning French, but never asked him to use. But with this last lesson, Deniss thought that it is only appropriate for him to address Stephane as such.

Deniss closed his eyes, placed his left hand on his neck, pulled at the trigger ring to flick the hidden blade out. One last time.


End file.
